Follow Your Heart
by littleolmee
Summary: Gajeel's life is in danger after being drenched in an ancient potion, Levy in true Fairy Tail fashion throws caution to the wind to follow her heart & does what she thinks is right in order to save him. Rated M for language & adult situations. GajeelXLevy.
1. Chapter 1

**Blanket disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not claim any rights to Fairy Tail or any characters associated with the manga, anime, movie, or game. No money was made from this fan fiction. **

**Author's note:**** This story is rated M for language and mature situations. The story is a romance between Gajeel and Levy, it is not meant for children; if under age please don't read. I currently don't have a beta so any grammar mistakes please overlook. **

{break}. . . .

He'd had inkling that things wouldn't go as smoothly as Bunny Girl and Shrimp swore they would when he grudgingly agree to this mission. Gajeel had worked with Salamander enough to know trouble followed the guy like a shadow.

He felt like an idiot for not listening to his own conscience, but seriously the whole situation was ridiculous.

Somehow he'd went from fighting to lying flat on his back in the dirt, drenched in the potion they'd been fighting over. The one thing he was sure about was if he didn't get away from that god awful smell he was going to hurl.

"Ugh . . . you stink!"

Finding the strength to raise his head without spewing, Gajeel bared his teeth and growled at his fellow dragon slayer. Natsu was doing an impressive job of covering his nose with one hand while crab crawling away from him.

Bunny Girl and Shrimp ran passed saying something about the mage was getting away, but for once Gajeel couldn't find the will to care.

His head thunk back against the ground, his vision wavering for a moment before it focused on Lily lecturing Happy; the two exceeds hovered in the air above him. Happy was holding a bottle cork and looking pretty fucking guilty about it too. Well, that explained how he gotten drenched. He'd have to remember to kick the little brat in the ass.

In a blur of fire Natsu ran passed, dirt flying up behind him. "Come on Metal Head, you're going to miss all the fun. I'm going to kick that guy's ass."

Wiping dirt out of his eyes, Gajeel mentally added Natsu's name to his list of people that needed his boot shoved up their ass.

"Are you alright Gajeel?"

Thank Mavis for his partner. "No, I'm not." Man, it hurt to admit that. "This shit's making me sick. Help me get my shirt off will ya?"

And just like that Lily was transforming into his full size battle form and helping him sit up. Gajeel didn't care how many cats or exceeds there were in all of Earth Land his cat was the best damn cat in the world as far as he was concerned.

His finger shook as he worked his belt off and just as Lily was pulling his shirt over his head Levy was by his side with a water bottle and a rag.

With Lily's help he moved to a different spot. Shrimp pointed out some of that crap had soaked into the ground too, a hell of a lot of good it would do him to lay back down in that stuff. Once he was laid down, now in a clean spot, Levy started washing him off.

Man, he appreciated her coming back to help him, not that he was going to admit it. "Thought you and Bunny Girl were chasing that mage?"

"He got away." She could feel her face heating up as she worked on rinsing his upper body off. Through the thin cloth she could feel every ridge of every muscle in his chest and stomach.

Don't be a pervert Levy. She reminded herself, this was about helping Gajeel not admiring his build.

Levy had accepted her attraction to the tall, dark dragon slayer for some time now. He'd do and say things that made her believe he returned her feelings, but things never went any farther than causal flirting, some teasing, or innocent forms of affection.

She and Lucy often compare notes on just how thick headed dragon slayers were in terms of romance. Even this mission had been one of Lucy's ideas -kind of a double date mission.

"Natsu and Lucy are still trying to pick up his trail, but I got worried when you didn't come. Sorry about leaving you behind. If I'd realized you were having trouble I would have stayed instead of going with Lucy."

Looking away from her, Gajeel swore he could feel his cheeks redden. His time in Fairy Tail had taught him what it was to actually have comrades and friends; especially after Panther Lily became his cat, but his relationship with Levy was some strange mix of friends, but more that he wasn't sure how to handle.

Most the time he found himself blushing like an idiot over things she said and did, but how could he not be embarrassed when she treated him like he was something special? "It's no big deal. Lily was with me."

Rinsing out the cloth, Levy slowly poured more water over his chest trying to wash away the oily potion still covering him. She wished she had some soap with her, water wasn't cutting this stuff.

"Lily is a great partner." She agreed, glancing over where a now small Lily stood guard by Gajeel's head; the black exceed smiled at her praise. Feeling bold, Levy glanced at Gajeel, who was watching her intently. "I just want you to think of me as someone you can depend on too. You've been there for me and I want to be there for you too."

"Tch . . . . Whatever."

She didn't let his words put her off. She knew he always acted tough when he was embarrassed and as red as his face was getting she could tell her words had affected him.

Natsu and Lucy stomped their way back to the clearing, neither was happy by the matching looks they were wearing. Sighing, Levy dreaded to ask. "I guess you couldn't find him, huh?"

Dropping to her knees Lucy wailed, "My rent money!"

Glancing back at Gajeel, Levy shrugged her shoulders at him. She loved Lucy, but she didn't get why her reactions were always so over the top.

"Thanks Bunny Girl, glad to know what you really care about." Annoyed Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Anyone know what was in that damn bottle Salamander's blue moron dumped all over me? Shit, I can barely move."

Pouring the last of their water on to Gajeel's chest Levy wiped away as much of the potion as she could. "Whatever it is, it's really oily. I had a horrible time getting it off him. Where is the bottle anyway?"

Happy slowly crawled out from a nearby bush, potion bottle in hand. "Here it is Levy."

Taking the bottle Levy noticed the cork had been replaced, but she kept quiet about it. Silently she read the inscription on the bottle before moving to her pack to recover her glasses and books she'd brought.

Whatever Lily had said to him must have really struck home with the blue exceed, at least he acted really put out over what had happened.

"I'm sorry Gajeel." Wow, he even got an apology. Maybe he wouldn't kick his ass after all. "I caught it by the cork after Lily tossed it to me, and it just came undone."

Squatting down next to him Natsu patted his friend on the back. "It's okay buddy. I'm sure Gajeel forgives you. I got this anyway." Bringing forth some flames to the end of his fingers Natsu moved to poke Gajeel. "At least you smell better now. Here, I'll burn off the rest of the stuff."

Trying his best to scoot away from Natsu's fire Gajeel felt relieved to have Lily standing over him transformed, his sword pointed squarely at Natsu's throat.

"Umm . . . . Lily?" Natsu blinked up at the large exceed, slowly putting distance between his throat and the end of Lily's sword.

"Gajeel isn't even able to sit up on his own & you seriously think he can fend you off right now? What happened to taking care of your guild mates like family?"

"What the hell Lily? I can still take this pink-haired moron." Okay, no he couldn't, the most he'd probably be able to do was throw up his iron scales, but there was no way he was going to put up with someone saying he was weak, even from his own partner.

Popping up Lucy grabbed Natsu's ear, yanking him away from the end of Lily's sword. "Seriously Natsu, I keep telling you not everything is fixed by setting it on fire." Shaking her head Lucy's smile relayed to them she thought Natsu was a bit of a moron too. "Don't worry guys I got him." The whole time Natsu caterwauled and carried on about Lucy being scary and mean to him.

"Well I think we better work on getting back to the guild and having Master contact Porlyusica." Wrapping the bottle in the wet rag, Levy placed the bottle in her bag along with her books and glasses. "I'm able to read the name of the potion, but I have no idea what it does. Since you're not feeling well I think getting back is the best thing we can do."

Levy's words seem to be the instructions everyone was waiting for. A transformed Lily and a now calm Natsu worked to partially carry partially assist Gajeel out of the woods they'd chased the other mage to and headed back towards the train station. Luckily they weren't too far from Magnolia.


	2. Chapter 2

**Blanket disclaimer:**** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not claim any rights to Fairy Tail or any characters associated with the manga, anime, movie, or game. No money was made from this fan fiction.  
**_**  
**__**Author's note:**_** Once again still no beta, I'm sorry about any grammar errors I missed, did the best I could. Next update will be to Every Heart Universe sequel to Every Heart. Hope you enjoy this chapter. **

{Line break}. . . .

If anything good had come out of Happy dumping that shitty potion on him it was the girls refused to let Natsu bug him on the trip home.

Ever since the Magic Games Natsu had been busting his chops about what that bastard Sting told them about motion sickness being an ailment dragon slayers grew into.

Sting was another one he should add to his list of people to introduce their ass to his boot.

Since Natsu had suffered for years from motion sickness and Gajeel just started having problems that fire brat decided that meant Gajeel was younger than him.

Like any of the first generation dragon slayers knew how old they were. Not that he was accepting he might be younger, but even if he was, it didn't change the fact he was a hell of a lot more mature than that idiot could ever hope to be.

Sure as far as looks he knew it was mainly his larger build and his piercings Metalicana gave him that made him look older, but hey . . . he was still the more mentally mature out of the two of them.

Nobody held his hand and took care of him when he was a kid after that ass Metalicana had taken off. So he had to be more mature if he raised himself, right?

Rolling off Levy's lap, his knees slammed into the train floor as he dry heave into the bucket one of the porters had brought, his arms shook from the stress of holding himself up to toss his cookies.

If it wasn't for the Shrimp's kindness in taking care of him he'd have just threw up on the floor and not cared to aim at the stupid bucket.

Whatever was in that damn bottle had certainly done a number on him. On the trip down Gajeel was able to stay mostly silent refusing to act as stupid as Salamander did over motion sickness, not this time though, and that stung his pride just a bit.

He'd never admit he was gettin' any sort of pleasure out of all this, but Levy's attention was kinda' nice. One of her small hands held his hair while he got sick and the other rubbed his back. As soon as he stopped, she was guided him back to her lap and the ice pack she'd created with her magic and a spare shirt she'd brought with her came back to his forehead.

Lily flew above him, pulling a very flashy blanket Bunny Girl had got from one of her spirits over him –the thing was gaudy as hell, but he guessed the next time he needed a back up dancer he'd let her off the hook as thanks for helping him out.

Once Lily had him covered again the black cat landed on the back of the bench. Lil' crossed his arms over his chest and kept a wary eye on everyone that stayed in their car, watching his back while he was down.

Gajeel moaned, he swore he could feel his fever spiking again. He knew he sounded downright pitiful and he hated every moment of it, but when Levy's hand started gently petting his hair he decided being able to get this extra special attention from her was well worth looking like a pussy.

Besides he could totally blame it all on the potion getting dumped on him so no one had to find out he actually liked to cuddle.

Natsu tried a couple of times to open his mouth about Levy babying him and all the noise he was making; he even dared to compare Gajeel to Levy's lapdogs, but Lucy put an end to it real quick.

His pride was taking a real beating; especially with Lucy defending him, but it was worth it to see Soot for Brains cowering in the corner in fear of her.

"Are you feeling any better?" Levy asked, pulling his attention away from the idiot show.

"Nnnnoooo . . . ." He drew out, wondering how dumb she could be to think he felt any better. The way he looked at her must have said he thought she was an idiot too since she bit her lip and fiddled with his ice pack attempting to look busy. Okay, now he really felt like shit.

Damn it all, he just wasn't good at dealing with people. It wasn't that he disliked Levy. Hell as far as he was concerned she was the best girl in Fairy Tail.

Even though he'd hurt her in the past she'd become his friend and they worked well together. He was friends with that Rain Woman Juvia too, but Gajeel enjoyed Levy's company more—she wasn't nearly as crazy as Juvia was.

There were girls at the guild that drew his eye. Hell half the time someone was wearing something that barely covered their bits he'd have to be dead not to look.

Good lookin' they might be, but when the girls were someone like Tatiana who could rip your fuckin' spine out your mouth it definitely put most the guild girls on the look but don't touch list.

Anyway in Gajeel's opinion just like Lily was the best damn cat in the world Levy was the best girl. Everything about her calmed him; her scent, her personality, her aura, just everything plus she was easy on the eyes and Gajeel wasn't concerned that she'd try to jerk his spine out through his mouth anytime soon.

"Thanks for looking out for me guys." He mumbled, making sure not to look directly at Levy when he said it and at least with his fever for once she wouldn't be able to tell he was blushing.

"Don't worry about it Gajeel. We're close to Magnolia, so just hang on a bit longer." Levy assured him, resuming her petting.

A violent shiver ran through him that didn't actually seem all that bad. His symptoms were really strange; he felt both hot and cold.

How the hell you could feel both at the same time he didn't understand, but that was how he felt.

Levy's hand made him feel calm yet he could also feel his heart beating a lot faster than was normal for him. He was sick as a dog to his stomach from his motion sickness, but at the same time there was this strange fluttering that wasn't his normal turbulent stomach ache.

Then there was this strange longing for something he didn't really understand, but Levy's attention did help.

Cracking his eyes open he looked over at Natsu and Lucy across the aisle from them. Something about Lucy had that fluttering in his stomach and longing feeling acting up, but he quickly squashed it. The thought of feeling any longing for Bunny Girl had him wrinkling his nose.

Turning his head, he pressed his face into Levy's stomach and took a deep breath filling his senses with Levy's smell. Gajeel soaked in her smell and presence, it gave him a feeling of warmth he hadn't had since Metalicana disappeared.

He hadn't realized he'd dozed off until he became aware of his blanket being pulled off him and a couple sets of hands pulling him away from Levy.

Snarling he lashed out, his nails lengthened and turned dark from the iron seeping from his blood through his dragon magic.

"Whoa, shit Gajeel! Watch it, Rust Bucket." Natsu complained, jumping back into the aisle just in time to miss getting hit.

It was Levy's gasp and call for him to stop that halted him from doing more. Her arms wrapped around one of his holding him back from trying to gut Natsu.

Blinking to clear his vision, Gajeel for just a moment felt a little guilty before he huffed at them. "Don't just grab me when I'm a sleep Nimrod. I didn't realize it was you."

It was the closet to an apology he'd give Natsu and his fellow dragon slayer seemed to realize it as he walked back over and nodded to someone behind the bench. "Okay Lily, since Sleeping Beauty here is finally awake let's try this again."

A man sized Lily took hold of one of his arms and pulled him up while Natsu pulled his other. Once they had him up they each slung an arm over their shoulders and assisted him off the train. Well, more like they hauled his ass off the train.

Next thing he knew he was being put onto a bed. He must have black out being he didn't remember the trip from the train station.

Probably better off not remembering the civilians staring at him while he was drug back to the guild like some kind of loser.

Master Makarov walked through the door, followed by Happy. The younger exceed looked up at him with such a look of guilt Gajeel figured he could forgive the little idiot for dropping the potion on him without having to kick him in the butt first. He was still kicking Natsu's ass though, just on principle and because Natsu deserved to have his ass kicked.

"Happy tells me you ran into some trouble during your mission Gajeel." Makarov said as he climbed onto the chair beside his bed.

Gajeel snorted, the old man had a way of putting things. "You could say that Master."

"Don't worry my boy, I've sent for Porlyusica and she'll get you fixed right up. In the mean time you just rest."

He could feel his eye drooping as Master was telling him to rest. As if that was all he was waiting for Gajeel let himself fall back asleep. He was back at Fairy Tail and he knew his fellow stupid fairies would take care of him no matter what.


End file.
